Regrets
by Shadoah Kriegel
Summary: Sasuke has a lot of regrets in life, some may be worse than others and yet some have yet to occur. What happens when he is forced into a difficult scenario and has to choose Sakura or vengeance? Mainly SasuSaku, am planning on adding other couples as well later in the story
1. Chapter 1

A/N This was originally planned to be a one-shot and was written using the song NIAN from the Stormriders Movie score soundtrack. The Link for it on youtube once you type in the youtube . com is /watch?v=8rXoTFXVhaE

However I wish to continue this story line and extend it. So I will try to maintain updating my others as well, but things are hectic around here right now so if I take a little, please bear with me. Thank you, and please do not flame the story. ALL flames will be deleted upon submission, no exceptions. Thank you

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Sakura had known Sasuke and Naruto ever since their days as Gennin, prior to their Team 7 with Kakashi leading them. Sakura was re-organizing things in her room and had just gotten out of the shower when she knocked the Uchiha amulet to the floor, Sakura bent down and lifted it before standing. Her thumb rubbing over the fan softly, remembering when Sasuke had given it to her.

 _ **FLASHBACK BEGINS**_

 _ **Sasuke and Naruto were on the rooftop of the Hospital, Sakura was watching from the doorway hoping they would stop. When she realized that Sasuke and Naruto were going to hurt one another, she just reacted by running in between them, yelling for them to stop. Sasuke's eyes caught hers but it was too late for him to turn his hand away as his chidori slammed into her stomach while Naruto's rasengan slammed into her back, impaling her onto Sasuke's chidori even further.**_

 _ **Sasuke's other hand had grasped her lower back, holding her to him as he gently lowered her to the floor and pulling his hand from her stomach. "Sakura…Stay with me, you cannot leave me" he said, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, Naruto stared at his hand while shaking. "NARUTO… IDIOT GO GET SOMEONE" Naruto had barely moved when there was a poof and Kakashi leaned down next to Sasuke and picked her up in his arms.**_

" _ **Sasuke, go report this to Tsunade please. I will take her to the hospital and Naruto, you can go see Jiraiya at the bridge" Kakashi said before vanishing in a poof of smoke. Sasuke watched Naruto and Jiraiya leave through the gates of Konoha while Tsunade's hand fell on Sasuke's shoulder.**_

" _ **Get going Uchiha, you know you want to go see her." Tsunade said, watching with saddened eyes at the thought of what would happen to Sasuke if Sakura ever died. Sasuke burst through the hospital doors and up to the desk. The nurse looked at him before asking how she could help him.**_

" _ **Haruno, Sakura Haruno, what room is she in? Please?" He said desperately while the nurse took pity and looked over his shoulder at Tsunade at the doors, with a curt nod the nurse looked up the name. Sasuke watched as she wrote it down and slid the paper to him. He stared at the paper for a moment before walking to the elevators.**_

 _ **Stepping in he pressed the button for the 5**_ _ **th**_ _ **floor. 'ICU' he thought to himself. He stepped out of the elevator when the doors opened only to see Kakashi sitting in the chair at the waiting section. He walked over and sat down beside his teacher. "I really messed up Kakashi. I will never forgive myself if she dies." He said, his hand clenched into a fist.**_

 _ **The nurse called Sasuke's name and escorted him to room 328. Sasuke heard the door close behind him and walked over to her bed where she lay as still as death, the only thing reassuring him was the steady rise and fall of her chest. He sat beside her in the chair and took her hand. "whoever would have thought Sakura, the hospital room you are in, is your birthday. You always thought things were ironic and now you are not even awake tto see it and laugh, making everything alright again."**_

 _ **He cupped her cheek, allowing his thumb to brush the bottom of her face gently. "Sakura….I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am, it should not have happened and I was such a fool for allowing things to escalate as they did between Naruto and myself. " he leaned down and kissed her forehead before slipping his mother's amulet around her neck. :This belonged to my mother and she wanted me to give this to the woman I cared for more than anything else." He whispered.**_

" _ **I am sorry to have to say I will be gone before you wake up, I have…things to atone for Sakura and I promise you I will be back. I can't say when or how long I will be but I promise you I will come back." He placed a letter on her table and kissed her gently on the lips before leaving, only stopping at the door to whisper a final goodbye before leaving. He made it out to the gate and turned to look at the village one final time, he would not be seeing it for a long while.**_

 _ **FLASHBACK ENDS**_

It had been 4 years since Sakura woke with the necklace on her and she had never taken it off. She read his letter and tried to stay as focused on other things so she wouldn't think about Sasuke, but sometimes her mind couldn't help wonder what he was doing at a certain moment, or who he may be with now that so much time passed by. She put the amulet back on and secured it within its clasp.

She turned to leave her room when the silhouette of a man caught her attention, whirling around she froze. In her window was Sasuke, with a smirk on his face. "What? 4 years and no hug for me Sakura? I promised I would come back didn't I?" he said softly, Sakura ran into him and fought tears when his arms closed around her. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke. I felt I needed time to sort through things, just as Naruto did and I think I am ready to to begin fresh with you Sakura… That is if you still want it" he said, holding her hand.

Sakura shook her head yes and smiled when he slid an engagement ring onto her finger. "you have always been mine Sakura, it just took me forever to discover it." He whispered before her lips cut him off. She hugged him tightly and knew everything was going to be alright now.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura sat on the foot of her and Sasuke's bed while she packed and checked to make sure she had everything she needed while making a mental checklist. "Multi-purpose antidote, check. Syringes for injection, check. Kunai, check. Senbon, check." She stopped when she heard a soft chuckle, glancing upwards she saw Sasuke leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. "What? As if you don't make mental checks before leaving on a mission Sasuke." She said with a laugh.

"I do, just not analytical about it as you are. Besides, what are you so worried about?" He asked as he moved to sit beside her, moving the pack away with ease. "It is a simple medical run Sakura, one you could do in your sleep. It isn't as if you haven't done these runs before, so why the worry?" he asked while running his hands up her arms to cup her cheeks.

Sakura met his gaze with a sigh. "I can feel it, something isn't right. I have been feeling off since this morning and when I start having bad luck Sasuke….." she started, only to have him finish her sentence with a cool sense of finality about him that left her feeling relieved.

"Then you are bound to find trouble and danger." He finished. He knew this was not the first time she felt this way, it was as if her body had a sort of sixth sense about her that her mind didn't know about. Orochimaru was still looking for her to undo the jutsu that the third had placed on his arms, and he knew he would take the first chance to take her that he could get.

Sakura had waved at everyone with a smile. She knew it would be a month at best till she saw them again. As she left the sight of the village, Sasuke's knot grew tighter in his stomach, turning he left for the hokage immediately. Bursting through the doors he slammed his hands onto Tsunade's desk with a glare. "Send me after her Tsunade, you know Orochiimaru is after her and will take any chance he can get to make her unseal his arms since your refusal. And think of her, can you IMAGINE the horrors he will do to her to make her give in?"

Tsunade sighed before throwing a scroll at him. "Fine, Get going before she gets too far ahead. And don't let me see you without her, take the rest of the team with you, seeing as they are all outside the door to my office anyway." She said, Sasuke turned to see Kakashi, Naruto, Yamato and Sai all peering inside to see the events of the commotion.

In minutes, the team was heading out after Sakura, Kakashi looked upwards as a loud explosion filled the air, a large cloud of smoke billowing in the air followed by a shrill scream everyone recognized…..Sakura. They all sped up and ran faster to catch up to the spot in question and arrived to see Kabuto holding Sakura's throat with her feet above the ground. "I finally caught you Sakura. You know, you should always make sure your opponent can't regenerate their skin using chakra before depleting your own reserves." He slammed her into a tree and slowly licked her cheek with a chuckle

Orochimaru stepped beside Kabuto and grinned. "Now now Kabuto, don't be hasty, I do after all have need of this medic ninja. She is after all the apprentice of my dear old partner Tsunade. She should have been taught the seal signs to remove the jutsu on my arms, and if you don't Sakura, not only will your precious Sasuke die at my hands, but I will take great pleasure in forcing your body to wring every ounce of pleasure from my own body." Sakura glared at Orochimaru and shifted her eyes to the side in an act of refusal.

"You may be able to take my body by force Orochiimaru, but it will NEVER be me that you take." Orochimaru's eyes narrowed slightly at her stubbornness before shifting his eyes to the side, and within seconds Sakura's own eyes widened in fear, within his grasp of snakes was her team. "Orochimaru you coward, You know you can't have me so you are hiding behind my loved ones" she snarled only to feel her body slammed into the tree again.

"New choice Sakura…your assistance in removing this cursed jutsu from my arms, OR you can watch me defile yur dear Sasuke-Kun right in front of you." Sakura's eyes widened, 'surely he wouldn't…' she thought to herself only to be forced into shutting her eyes when she noticed Orochimaru's hand disappear into Sasuke's shorts. When she heard Sasuke snarl in anger she made up her mind.

"Leave them out of this…do as you wish with me but leave them alone." Kakashi and the others looked at her with widened eyes as Orochimaru withdrew from Sasuke and made his way towards her. He stopped when he stood before her and smirked when the others looked down in defeat, they were so easily caught and caused more issues for Sakura than if she were alone.

"Take her Kabuto and lets go, leave the others to swallow the taste of failure" With a chuckle, Orochimaru, Kabuto and Sakura vanished, leaving behind only a single scroll for Kakashi and the others. Sasuke stood and ran over and picked up the scroll before reading it and throwing it in anger. 'DAMN HER' he thought bitterly. Kakashi picked it up and read it with a sigh.

 _ **Sasuke, Kakashi, Naruto, Yamato and Sai,**_

 _ **I'm sorry that I am doing this on my own, I can't let you risk your lives for me any longer, this is my fight for more reasons than you realize. I wish I could have told you but there simply isn't enough time. Take this scroll back to Tsunade and she will tell you everything that I could not do.**_

 _ **Kakashi**_ _ **, I bought the full set of Icha Icha and it is in my apartment in the closet. You are the only one who will have the full set before the rest of the books are set to come out in print.**_

 _ **Naruto**_ _ **, little knucklehead, go ask hinata out already, she loves you and has since we went to academy before genin status and remember to give her a bouquet of cherry blossoms in memory of me will ya?**_

 _ **Yamato**_ _ **, there is a scroll containing my newly discovered wood jutsu that I intended to give you for Christmas, but I see I won't be around for it so please take it now. It is on my table in the kitchen**_

 _ **Sai**_ _ **, you don't need a book to tell you about emotions, simply close your eyes and let yourself feel with all your heart, I also bought you a new drawing scroll for missions. It is with Yamato's scroll on my table.**_

 _ **Sasuke**_ _ **, no words can tell you how much you mean to me, you are my entire reason for living and yet it is to save you and the others I choose to forfeit my life. It is time you watched from the back while I take the lead. I also left something for you, it is in my bedroom on the pillow, the locket my mother said to give only to the man I love. that man is you, always and forever Sasuke.**_

 _ **I hope you all will rest easily knowing after this mission, Orochimaru and Kabuto will no longer be a threat.**_

 _ **Sincerely,**_

 _ **Sakura**_

Sasuke rested his forehead on the tree as tears spilled down his cheeks. Kakashi grasped his shoulder, "Come on Sasuke. There isn't anything we can do it was her choice." He said softly, Sasuke shrugged his hand off and looked up at the sky, he knew all of Orochimaru's hideouts and their locations.

"No, you go. I have something to take care of, I will catch up." Kakashi nodded and left with Yamato, Sai and Naruto. 'I'm coming Sakura, whether you like it or not.' He thought as his hands fisted tightly. He took off for the hideout that was the best stocked for removing jutsus, knowing it was only a half hour from his current location.

He cautiously stepped into the cave, following the sounds of Sakura's struggling grunts, hearing a loud slapping sound before Kabuto's voice filled the air. "Sakura, stop or I shall have to punish you harder. Orochimaru wouldn't want that lovely face of yours marred now would he?" Sasuke managed to slip up behind him and Sakura shut her eyes as his chidori pierced through Kabuto's stomach, his other hand silencing his mouth before he crumpled to the floor, Sasuke severed his head to prevent him from regenerating his skin. Turning to Sakura, he noticed his entrance was discovered as Orochimaru held Sakura before him as a shield.

"Sasuke how nice to see you, come back for more attention did you? I didn't know you liked men Sasuke-kun?" he sneered, Sakura's eyes narrowed in anger while her eyes silently communicated with him and she prayed he wouldn't hate her for what she was about to do, twirling she placed her lips on his harshly, catching Orochimaru by surprise. His eyes closed and that was when Sasuke made his move, in seconds he was behind Orochimaru with his hand wrapped around his throat and slamming him into the wall before running him through with his chidori just as Kakashi and the others showed up.

Sakura knew it was too late for her, as rochimaru had already injected her with poison to prevent her from recursing his arms. She collapsed just as Sasuke caught her, "Sakura…..You're gonna be okay right?" he asked, worry filling his voice. Tsunade shoved her way through the ground and sank to her knees next to Sakura.

She quickly removed the needle of antidote from her bag and immediately injected her with it. "I had an exact antidote to Orochimaru's poison due to being in his team at one point, I knew I would need it sooner or later" she explained while they waited for it to take effect.

Sakura sat up and looked at them, she heard the conversation and her eyes met Sasuke's. He knew she had been touched and he could do nothing to erase that, "Question is Where do we go from here?"

Naruto shook his head, "the battle's done and we kinda won so we can sound our victory cheer" Sasuke shook his head at Naruto's stupidity while Sai smacked him on the head

"She knows that, our path is unclear right now, and home is near but even hand in hand and walking alone in fear, where do we go from here?" Sai asked, "All of our lives are changed now, yet we all share one thing in common….we all lost loved ones who meant the most to us"

Sakura looked at the ground knowing Sai was right. "Naruto lost both parents and never knew them, Sasuke you lost your whole clan, your mother and worse, Itachi. Kakashi Sensei you lost Rin, Yamato sensei you lost your innocence being Orochimaru's test subject, Sai you lost your ability to feel emotions and worse your brother. Tsunade you lost Dan and Nawaki…and I lost my adopted parents." She said, feeling Sasuke's hand encompass her own.

"We take it one step at a time Sakura and hope for a better future" Was Sasuke's response.

AUTHOR NOTE: This chapter ends the way it does because I have a special twist to add starting at chapter 3. It somewhat follows the shippuden but in a different way.


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